What is up with the young pitchers not trusting their stuff?

[Matt P]

It's unreal how just about every pitcher that comes up from the minors nibbles and doesn't trust their stuff. Do all teams deal with this with their young pitchers being scared or is this just Orioles baseball at its finest?

[osforlife]

No topic to put this comment in so I'll guess I'll just put it here. We lost last night because of the little things:
First of all, we wouldn't have scored in the first inning unless Deduno threw that wild pitch. Runner on third, no outs- we wouldn't have scored Nicky. Hardy needs to be hitting EIGHTH. not SECOND. Buck is making a dumb decision to trust his veteran here. His OBP is .257 for crying out loud.
Second, 3 double plays grounded into is too much. That just kills rallies.
Third, Flaherty pops up to the catcher. That cannot happen.
Fourth, top of the third- nicky and jj get singles- first and second, not outs- Buck should be able to not care who is at the plate. You are getting paid millions of dollars, you need to learn how to bunt, period. But no, we swing away producing a unproductive strike out, pop out, and ground out. Runners STRANDED.
Fifth, bottom of the fourth- Ryan Doumit hits a ground ball to JJ Hardy. Hardy throws it to second to record the first out, but Flaherty cannot complete the twin killer. 3 pitches later Brian Dozier grounds out to short, which would have been inning over. But instead, Britton has to throw 16 more pitches to get out of the inning.
Sixth, bottom of the 7th- if JJ Hardy makes that play we are out of the inning. INSTEAD, Strop has to replace Ayala who promptly gives up 2 RBI singles and the Orioles defense is out on the field for 18 more pitches. DEFENSE,DEFENSE,DEFENSE.

[Rising O's]

I only saw the last of Britton's 5th. Trying to throw the perfect pitch on the outside corner and keep missing. Then throwing wildly up and in for a walk and it was off to the showers for him. When you are a contact pitcher you need to pitch to contact. Sure the defense is awful but its better than walks and tons of extra pitches.

[Jordan Tuwiner]

It's unreal how just about every pitcher that comes up from the minors nibbles and doesn't trust their stuff. Do all teams deal with this with their young pitchers being scared or is this just Orioles baseball at its finest?

Especially with a guy like Britton. Chances are if he gets it even close to where he wants it he'll get a GB.

[Matt P]

Especially with a guy like Britton. Chances are if he gets it even close to where he wants it he'll get a GB.

The most annoying part is after everyone of these guys pitch they say in the postgame interview that when they attacked the zone they did good and that there performance wasn't acceptable and they need to attack the zone more. If they know that when they attack the zone they aren't getting hit why do they not continue to do it? It's just so frustrating. I wanted to scream at the tv when Britton mentioned last night that when he attacked the zone he was getting groundball oust.

[A_K]

If they know that when they attack the zone they aren't getting hit why do they not continue to do it?

Because baseball's a difficult game, and wanting to do something isn't the same as being able to do something.

[birdwatcher55]

According to the BALTIMORE SUN today, there is a riff developing between Schowalter and Peterson over "mechanics." Interesting read. Griffin not mentioned at all in the story.

[OriolesRedskins28]

According to the BALTIMORE SUN today, there is a riff developing between Schowalter and Peterson over "mechanics." Interesting read. Griffin not mentioned at all in the story.

I think that article by Encia was pure speculation and was him simply reaching for a story.

[Matt P]

Because baseball's a difficult game, and wanting to do something isn't the same as being able to do something.

These are major league pitchers, they should be able to pound the strike zone consistently.

[Matt P]

I hope that Britton and Tillman have learned these last 3 days what can happen if they trust themselves. They both have better stuff than Chen, Hunter, or Gonzalez and all three of them turned in quality starts.